Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Rare portrait of famed fossil hunter on display
A RARELY seen portrait of a pioneering fossil hunter from the West is to go on display – along with an image of one of her finds and a more recent discovery from the Jurassic Coast.
Lyme Regis Museum on the Dorset coast is celebrating the life and work of Mary Anning, with the unveiling of a rarely seen portrait of the renowned palaeontologist.
Also on show is one of her rare ichthyosaurs and a stunning newly discovered genus and species of extinct marine “crocodile” found by two local fossil hunters.
The museum stands on Mary’s former home on the seafront in Lyme, where a statue by Denise Dutton is due to be unveiled this weekend by a local fundraising group, Mary Anning Rocks, to mark 222 years since her birthday.
Mary’s portrait is on loan from the Geological Society and will be on public display in Lyme Regis for the first time.
Painted in pastels, it is the work of local artist Benjamin Donne, who would have known Mary and depicts her with her faithful dog, Tray, on the beach at Lyme.
Displayed alongside the picture will be a very rare Ichthyosaurus breviceps discovered by Mary in 1832, which is on loan from the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences in Cambridge.
No complete Mary Anning ichthyosaurus has ever been on display in Lyme until now.
Also unveiled for the first time will be an exciting new acquisition, a recently discovered genus and species of extinct marine thalattosuchian crocodylomorph discovered by Paul Turner and Lizzie Hingley a short distance from where Mary herself would have gone fossil hunting.
Museum director Bridget Houseago says: “We are delighted to bring Mary’s portrait and one of her famous ichthyosaurs back to Lyme Regis.
“It is thought the portrait was a commission, which was then bought by a collector and donated to the Geological Society in Piccadilly, London, in 1875, where it has hung ever since.”
The exhibition runs until the end of September.